U of M joins diverse group of universities in forming coalition to improve college admission process

A diverse coalition of public and private colleges and universities, including Carleton College, University of Minnesota and St. Olaf College, is coming together with the goal of improving the college admission application process for all students. The Coalition is developing a free platform of online tools to streamline the experience of planning for and applying to college. The initial iteration of the planning tools will be available to freshmen, sophomores and juniors in high school beginning in January 2016.

In creating this platform, these colleges and universities hope to recast the college admission process from something that is transactional and limited in time into a more engaged, ongoing and educationally reaffirming experience. They also hope to motivate a stronger college-­‐going mindset among students of all backgrounds, especially those from low-­‐income families or underrepresented groups who have historically had less access to leading colleges and universities.

“The cooperation of major public and private schools in this Coalition conveys powerfully a message of education available for any qualified student, regardless of socio-­‐economic background,” says Paul Thiboutot, vice president and dean of admission and financial aid at Carleton College. “Access to education, a Carleton guiding principle for decades, understood both as admission and aid meeting full family financial need, has never had a clearer national commitment.”

“The University of Minnesota is proud to participate in the Coalition with a group of incredible, student-­‐ centered colleges and universities across the country-­‐-­‐institutions with a shared focus on access to higher education and student success,” says Rachelle Hernandez, associate vice provost for enrollment management and director of admissions at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. “Our life's work is to educate student scholars and help them achieve their dreams. The Coalition seeks to take that work to the next level, and we couldn't be more excited.”

“This free platform will allow high school students to assemble and share a digital portfolio with counselors, teachers, and mentors, which will hopefully alleviate some of the angst that college applications can generate,” says St. Olaf College dean of admissions and financial aid Chris George. “And because students will be able to add multimedia elements such as images, audio recordings, and videos to this platform, it will provide us with new information to assist us in our holistic review of each applicant.”

The Coalition for Access, Affordability, and Success currently includes more than 80 public and private universities and colleges across the United States that have made a commitment to make college affordable and accessible for students from diverse backgrounds, and for students to be successful in completing their education. The Coalition, which continues to add members, will be working over the next few months to develop tools and processes that are intended to address many of the barriers that prevent students from attending college or successfully earning a degree.

"The college admission process today can be stress-­‐inducing and we know it can present barriers for all students, especially for those who are the first in their family to attend college," said Zina L. Evans, vice president for enrollment management at the University of Florida.

“The schools in the Coalition have individually tried many different and creative approaches to address these challenges,” said Jeremiah Quinlan, dean of undergraduate admissions at Yale University. “We have come to the conclusion that we can have a much bigger impact on student access and completion if we work together.”

Later this year, the Coalition will share details about new college planning and application tools that will streamline the admission and financial-­‐aid processes and allow students to begin planning for college much earlier in their high school years. The online tools—which will include a digital portfolio, a collaboration platform, and an application portal—seek to reshape the process of applying to college as the culmination of students’ development over the course of their high school careers, reducing the unfamiliarity of the application and leveling the playing field for all students. The application will add another option to all the ways that students currently apply for college. Many Coalition schools will accept applications through the portal in the summer of 2016, while others are still deciding when and how to use the application feature of the new system.

"Starting to think about college earlier reduces some of the pressure of the application process, but more importantly, it sets the expectation that students should aspire to attend college," said Seth Allen, vice president and dean of admissions at Pomona College. "There are so many talented students who should aim for a great school, but they often don't understand the path to get there."

For example, research has found that students from disadvantaged backgrounds often do not participate effectively in the college application process, struggle with applying for financial aid, and often do not get awarded all the financial aid they qualify for. As a result, even the most highly qualified students either do not attend college, attend a college that does not engage their full potential, or do not complete their degrees. Attending a high school with a college-­‐going culture greatly increases students’ college success.

The Coalition hopes to address these findings through its free online tools and increased transparency around admissions and financial aid.

“The fact that some highly motivated and well prepared students do not apply to and enroll in the college they are best suited for is a persistent problem,” said Barbara Gill, associate vice president for enrollment management at the University of Maryland. “This Coalition is working to mitigate this problem by empowering students from disadvantaged backgrounds to immediately identify a diverse set of schools that are likely to provide considerable financial support and will invest in their academic success.”

Members of the Coalition include a diverse group of public universities that have affordable tuition along with need-­‐based financial aid for in-­‐state residents and private colleges and universities that provide sufficient financial aid to meet the full, demonstrated financial need of every domestic student they admit. Coalition schools graduate at least 70 percent of their students within six years, with many having much higher graduation rates.

"Coalition schools offer students incredible choice in location, size, selectivity, and mission, but we all share a commitment that the students we admit can afford to attend and will have a high likelihood of graduating," said James G. Nondorf, vice president for enrollment at the University of Chicago. "That should give students confidence that college is within their reach, and that they can be successful. We hope this effort will ultimately be successful in persuading many more students to aim for college and help ensure that they are prepared to do so."

The Coalition’s online portfolio of college planning tools will be open to high school students starting in January 2016. Additional details about the application process enabled by the platform will be announced before summer of 2016. More information can be found at coalitionforcollegeaccess.org.

Coalition Member Institutions

Amherst College

Bates College

Bowdoin College

Brown University

Bryn Mawr College

California Institute of Technology

Carleton College

Clemson University

Colby College

Colgate University

College of Holy Cross

College of William & Mary

Colorado College

Columbia University

Connecticut College

Cornell University

Dartmouth College

Davidson College

Duke University

Emory University

Franklin and Marshall College

Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering

Georgia Institute of Technology

Grinnell College

Hamilton College

Harvard University

Haverford College

Illinois State University

Indiana University—Bloomington

James Madison University

Johns Hopkins University

Miami University—Ohio

Michigan State University

Middlebury College

Mount Holyoke College

North Carolina State University at Raleigh

Northeastern University

Northwestern University

Oberlin College

Ohio State University

Penn State

Pomona College

Princeton University

Purdue University

Reed College

Rice University

Rutgers University—New Brunswick

Skidmore College

Smith College

St Olaf College

Stanford University

State University of New York—College at Geneseo

State University of New York—University at Buffalo

Swarthmore College

Texas A&M University

Tufts University

Union College

University of Chicago

University of Connecticut

University of Florida

University of Illinois at Urbana—Champaign

University of Maryland—College Park

University of Michigan

University of Minnesota—Twin Cities

University of Missouri

University of New Hampshire

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

University of Notre Dame

University of Pennsylvania

University of Pittsburgh

University of Rochester

University of South Carolina

University of Vermont

University of Virginia

University of Washington

Vanderbilt University

Vassar College

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Washington University in St. Louis

Wellesley College

Wesleyan University

Williams College

Yale University

###

Media Contacts

24-hour line

Unit:

News Service

Phone:

(612) 293-0831

Email:

unews@umn.edu

U News main line

Unit:

News Service

Phone:

(612) 624-5551

Email:

unews@umn.edu

Related Stories

U of M capital request focuses entirely on infrastructure renewal across the state